The Roundabout Path
by Sabishi Tomo
Summary: Set after the manga/anime ends and based on the events of Special Chapter 6. Yoshino wants to hold Hakaze's hand, but Hakaze thinks he is playing with her.


Author's Note: This is based on Zetsuen no Tempest's Special Chapter 6, which is set after the manga ends. Each special chapter focuses on the life of the different characters after the end of the manga, with chapter 6 focusing on Hakaze. Since it hasn't been translated yet, I dug out what I could from summaries on animesuki forums, and raws. I felt like some things were left ambiguous (probably because I haven't read the actual translation), and hence, made my own interpretation. The plot bunnies just wouldn't stop!

My first fanfiction!

Disclaimer: Zetsuen no Tempest belongs to Kyō Shirodaira.

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Kusaribe Hakaze walked wearily out of her work place, the Grill Restaurant. Late night shifts were always tough, and the hours were long. Combined with the emotional upheaval she had gone through today because her friends and family found out about her job, she felt completely drained. She had tried to keep where she worked a secret for many months now. As ex-Head of the Kusaribe Clan, she felt embarrassed about her waitressing job and had gone through pains to make sure no-one knew, including using a different name at the restaurant.

She didn't really have a choice but work at the restaurant though. When she made the rash decision to move out of the Kusaribe village into Tokyo, where Mahiro and Yoshino were attending university, she had to find the means to support herself and her small one-bedroom apartment. Tokyo was incredibly expensive, so even with her morning daycare job, and her part-time waitressing job, she was still struggling to make ends meet. In the beginning, Samon had helped her pay bills, but she had wanted to wean off that support as soon as possible. Especially now that Samon was married to Evangeline, and had his own household to worry about.

She couldn't believe Mahiro's nerve. He and Yoshino had stumbled into the restaurant where she worked by accident today. But then Mahiro had decided to invite her clan members to eat with them as well, to tease Hakaze no doubt, as he loved to do. He had not only called Samon and Evangeline, but Tetsuma, Natsumura and Juunichiro as well. Hakaze had been livid! But she had been forced to push down her anger, and serve them politely. Of course, to rile her up even further, Mahiro had made the most unreasonable demands of her all throughout dinner as she waited on their table.

It was over now though. As Hakaze exited the restaurant, the gears were turning in her head on how she could get back at Mahiro for his atrocious behavior. She stopped short as she noticed who was leaning against the rails in front of the Grill Restaurant.

"Y-yoshino? Why are you still here?" Hakaze asked meekly. The rest of the gang had left thirty minutes ago. Was he waiting for her?

"Since it's late, I was going to walk you home." Yoshino said with a small smile.

She was happy he was here, but that comment irked her a little. She walked home late at night by herself many times a week. "I am not so weak that I can't walk alone at night, you know. I can take care of myself!"

Yoshino scratched his head sheepishly. "I agree and that's what I said. But Mahiro insisted I walk you home."

"Of course." Hakaze muttered darkly. Of course it was Mahiro who made Yoshino stay. Yoshino was far too passive to do such a thing of his own accord. Hakaze was disappointed. She appreciated Mahiro's efforts, but pushing Yoshino to her was not going to do any good. She was plenty pushy herself, and it had hardly helped.

Yoshino tilted his head to the side. "Hakaze-san?"

Hakaze shook herself out of her thoughts. It wasn't like her to be so negative about Yoshino. The possibility of Yoshino never returning her feelings had not bothered her before. After all, even without any guarantee of his affection, to be nearer to him, she had left the comfort of her sheltered village life and moved to the city. She had not worried about the consequences. What was stopping her now?

The fact that their relationship had remained unaltered over the course of the nine months that she had moved to Tokyo bothered her more than she cared to admit. It made her feel insecure about herself. Yoshino was not only passive, but in a complete contrast to Mahiro who wore his heart on his sleeve, rarely did he reveal how he felt about anything and more importantly her. Hakaze's insecurity was only heightened by the fact that she lived alone in a big city, while hiding an important part of her life from her family.

Had she been a fool in love to pursue Yoshino so thoughtlessly? She didn't regret any of her decisions or her time spent with him, and she still loved him, but she knew subconsciously that unless something changed she would have to move on. She could not continue in her current state for long.

Ignoring the battle in her head, Hakaze said, "Okay, let's go." She would give it more thought this week or the next, but for now she just wanted to enjoy Yoshino's presence while he was here.

"You seem to be enjoying your new job. " Yoshino commented lightly as they headed in the direction of her apartment.

Hakaze covered hear face with shame. "That's definitely not true. It's so embarrassing to have to resort to being a waitress!"

"You know what they say about waiting tables, right? There is no other job that will teach you so much about human nature and dealing with people. Some of the great CEOs of our time have waited at bars and restaurants at some point in their lives, and have talked about how it helped. If you give me a day, I could even give you a list of names."

Hakaze was floored. "I guess I never thought of it that way." She groaned as she thought about Mahiro and her family's antics at the restaurant today. "It definitely teaches you how to deal with idiots. Like Mahiro. Ugh."

Yoshino chuckled. "Explains why I'm good at negotiating with people. I've been dealing with Mahiro half of my life." Hakaze laughed.

He continued. "That's not all I mean though. Your co-workers seem to care for you and look out for you. You found a great restaurant to work in." He smiled.

"Yeah it's a family restaurant so it's a very friendly atmosphere. They've all been really nice to me. Makes me a little guilty about lying about my background, but I didn't want to take any chances with Samon snooping around trying to find out about my activities."

"I noticed." Yoshino smirked and patted her head, albeit mockingly. "Ribe-chan, was it what they call you? Clever."

"Shut up." Hakaze glared half-heartedly, turning red.

"In all seriousness though. Don't feel embarrassed about your job. We're really proud of how you're managing everything by yourself. Mahiro and I aren't financially independent you know. My parents are helping me with college tuition and rent. Mahiro's parents left him a very rich kid when they died, so he doesn't have anything to worry about either. And none of us had any idea that you had another job outside of your daycare one. I can't believe you managed to hide that from everyone!"

"I didn't want anyone to know…"

"That's what I'm saying, you should have told us. Why do you think Mahiro called your family?"

"Apart from getting me riled up?"

Yoshino sweat-dropped, "Samon had nothing but praises for you tonight."

That was a shocker. Although Samon cared for her, he was always critical of her actions. Perhaps this was because he saw himself as her guardian after the death of her parents, and wanted what was best for her. It was nevertheless a source of friction between them over the years. His approval meant a lot to her.

"So, you should stop being so hard on yourself, Hakaze-san."

Her eyes blurred a little bit. "T-thanks, Yoshino." Had Yoshino known how much she needed to hear that? She reflected that it was part of his kindness that allowed him to put himself in other people's shoes and understand them. Although some people (specifically Samon) would probably argue that this was what allowed him to manipulate people as well.

Happier than she felt in days, she shifted the topic of conversation to Yoshino. "How are your classes?"

"It's going pretty well. I think I chose the right field. There's so much you can do with an Engineering degree after the fiasco with the trees." He turned to look at her. "Have you put any thought into what you want to do as a career, Hakaze-san?"

Typical of Yoshino to shift the topic of conversation right back at her, Hakaze thought inwardly with a smile. This was probably how Yoshino managed to learn everyone's secrets without revealing his own, and also how he had managed to hide his relationship with Aika from Mahiro for such a long time. "I might become some big shot CEO in the near future according to you." Yoshino grinned at that. "I don't really know. I haven't decided yet if I want to go to college. Just trying to save up as much as I can first. But I'm slightly interested in becoming a teacher."

A contemplative silence reigned over their walk as they both became lost in their thoughts. Yoshino spoke up suddenly. "Hakaze-san?"

Hakaze looked up, startled from her thoughts. "Yes?"

"I think you should give up on me and find someone else. You deserve someone much better than me."

Her eyes glinted in the moonlight. "What?"

Yoshino didn't look at her as he spoke. "In fact, I'll even give you guys my blessing."

She was irritated. "Haven't I told you before that you are the only one for me? Why are you bringing this up now?"

He continued as if he hadn't heard her. His face was impassive, betraying nothing of his thoughts. "When that happens, I'll find someone else too."

Hakaze's mouth opened and closed in wordless rage. Was Yoshino trying to say in a roundabout way that she wasn't good enough for him? That he would not be interested in her, so she should look for someone else? She had been prepared for her love to never be requited, in the event that Yoshino never got past Aika's death. But never would she have anticipated that Yoshino would sweep past her without giving her a chance, and instead consider other girls. She didn't deserve such indifference after her devotion to him. Heck, even as his friend, she didn't deserve that.

"If you do that I'm going to slowly slice you into a hundred pieces and feed you to the dogs." She said angrily, walking forward in front of Yoshino, and refusing to look at him.

They had stopped at a cross-walk now, and Hakaze could see from the corner of her eye that Yoshino had a small smile on his face as if he had been expecting her response. She turned her head away from Yoshino. Damn that condescending jerk!

She blinked as she saw his hand in front of her. She spun around.

He was smiling at her. "Cross-walk ahead. Let's hold hands?"

Of all the damned cheek! Was he mocking her?! "I am not some elementary school kid that I need to hold hands to cross the street!"

His eyes were serious now. "It's not you though. It's me. I'm not as brave as Mahiro, you know. I don't have the strength to move forward without someone guiding me."

She knew he wasn't talking about the cross-walk anymore, but her anger did not let her accept his words for what he was trying to convey. What sort of game was he playing with her?

He asked again, his eyes boring into hers. "So, Hakaze-san, may I hold your hand?" His right hand was held out in front of her. She was still furious, but something in his tone did not let her reject his offer. And since when was she ever able to refuse Yoshino? She relinquished her left hand to him, and he immediately laced it with his right, smiling.

They walked forward, arms swinging between them. Hakaze had daydreamed about such a scene many times before, but she was unable to conjure the euphoria that normally occupied these fantasies. She turned her head again, afraid that if she looked at Yoshino, she would start crying.

His previous comments about him finding another girl had caused the resurfacing of all her previous insecurities. Why was Yoshino toying with her feelings? Why was he holding her hand after he hinted that she should move on? She had never took him to be the type to play around with girls, but wasn't that what he was doing?

She hadn't realized that they had cleared the cross-walk and were now stopped on the side of the road. "Hakaze-san, what's wrong?"

She couldn't escape. Yoshino had tightened his grip on her hands.

A hand touched her cheek. "You're crying, Hakaze-san…"

She turned her back on Yoshino. "I am _not _crying." She managed to say, while furiously wiping at her tears. "The Kusaribe do not cry."

Yoshino forced her to turn around, and put one hand on top of each of her shoulders. "Tell me what's wrong."

The sudden onslaught of tears had cleared her head. "You tell me to give up on you, but the next moment, you want to hold my hand. Is this some sort of joke to you?" She shoved Yoshino's arms from her shoulders and stood glaring at him fiercely. "What is it, you are tired of me, but feel guilty telling me directly, so you belittle my feelings for you instead?"

"Hakaze-san, I never—" Yoshino tried to say, but she interrupted him.

"I understand if you are not interested in me. But if you are going to reject me, do it seriously, damn it!"

"Believe me when I say, Hakaze-san, undermining your feelings would be the last thing I would want to do. How could I? You've always been so honest and upfront about them. That takes a lot of courage, and it's something I admire you for."

Hakaze refused to blush at the praise, but she thawed a little bit. "Explain what you were trying to do then." She challenged him, her hands on her hips.

"I wanted to see where I stood with you," Yoshino said quietly.

"Where you stood with me?" She scoffed. "I am not buying that. In your own words, I've hardly ever made that a secret. If something changed you would know."

"I didn't want to take anything for granted though." He was avoiding her eyes. "I've kept you hanging for so long, I wouldn't be surprised if something changed. I wasn't lying about giving you my blessing if you found someone else. I've always said that you deserve better than someone pining over their dead girlfriend."

"Stop worrying about what you think I deserve!" Hakaze yelled, frustrated. They were going around in circles. "Think about yourself! What is it you want?" She felt like she was missing an important detail. Yoshino was always calculating and methodical in his actions, but his behavior today didn't make any sense to her.

A thought occurred to her suddenly, and her eyes widened with realization. "Yoshino… Was this about my manager at the Grill Restaurant? You thought we might have a thing for each other because he was so protective of me?"

Yoshino was looking at her now, but he didn't respond. Hakaze doubled over in laughter. This was too funny. It was the last thing she expected! "N-No, it's not like that between us at all!" She managed between hysterics. "He even knows about you!"

He looked relieved, Hakaze noted. So he hadn't wanted her to find someone else after all? She thought back to when he had asked to hold her hand. What was it that he had said? He didn't have the strength to move forward alone. He needed someone to guide him. Wasn't that… Didn't that mean…?

Was she jumping to conclusions? After all barely anything had changed between Yoshino and her recently, he was as impassive as ever. There were a few things though. Lately, he had begun to cook extra and bring it over to her apartment when he could, because he knew she despised her own cooking. He said it was because she was losing weight, but she actually wasn't. The other thing was that he frequently texted her. They were always in contact because Hakaze often dragged him to places when she needed a companion, but these days he had started to message her even on days they were both busy, just to see what she was up to.

Something clicked in her head. Was she too dense, or was Yoshino just a passive idiot? His attempts today were probably as direct as he was going to get though, she thought, as she half-tackled Yoshino and buried her face in his chest.

For a heart-stopping moment, she thought that perhaps she had misunderstood, because Yoshino's body tensed in shock. But then he wrapped his arms around her, and rested his head on top of hers.

"Sorry I made you wait so long." Yoshino whispered. "Thank you for being patient with me."

"'s okay," she mumbled into his shirt, content.

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Yoshino was pretty difficult to write, Hakaze was easier. First fanfiction, so reviews and feedback greatly appreciated! :)


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